Trial begins for L.A. judge accused of battery in dog-waste dispute

An L.A. County Superior Court judge accused of shoving and injuring a woman during an argument about dog waste told her he was a peace officer and repeatedly tried to calm her down, his lawyer said Thursday.

The dispute occurred last July on the driveway of Judge Craig Richman’s Chatsworth home after he asked Connie Romero, 51, to pick up a bag of dog waste she had left on the street while walking three small dogs.

She replied that she planned to pick it up on her return trip, but the judge insisted she remove it. Romero then flung the bag onto Richman’s passenger seat, and a confrontation ensued after he reached his home down the block.

In a trial that began Thursday, jurors face the question of whether Richman shoved Romero from behind in response to vulgarities she directed at him or whether Richman acted in self-defense because Romero trespassed onto his property and pushed him first.

The Los Angeles city attorney’s office filed a misdemeanor battery charge against Richman in October, alleging that Romero never shoved Richman. Romero suffered several minor injuries, including a cut above her eye.

“She had a moment of clarity, and she turned to walk away,” City Atty. Joshua Geller said during an opening statement. “That’s when she felt two hands on her pushing her face-first into the pavement.”

The judge’s attorney, James Blatt, plans to question Romero’s credibility by having witnesses speak about her history of “aggressive and erratic” behavior.

Blatt told jurors Richman was on the phone via Bluetooth with a caterer during most of the confrontation, and the man on the other end would testify how he heard Romero get in Richman’s face nose-to-nose.

Richman’s attempts to de-escalate the situation and order her off his driveway were unsuccessful, Blatt said.

“She’s screaming, she’s hollering and she pushes him,” Blatt said. “He puts his hands on her, and her feet get tangled in the [dogs’] leashes and she falls.”

Romero was working at the time as a housekeeper and dog-walker for a couple in Richman’s neighborhood. Blatt she said was suffering from seizures and anxiety at the time of the incident. She was uncooperative with an emergency room doctor and changed her story as the days went by, he said.

“At the end of this case, it will be overwhelmingly clear that this case should not have been brought here,” Blatt said, calling Richman the victim.

The prosecutor alleged that Richman threw a towel at a bleeding Romero and told her to leave. Richman’s neighbor, who was driving by later, testified Romero stopped her by pounding on her car.

The neighbor called 911 for Romero and walked the dogs back home. Richman left the dog waste on the parkway, the grassy area between the sidewalk and street, his attorney said.

Richman rejected a plea deal that would have led to a year of anger-management counseling. If convicted, he faces up to six months in jail.

Richman, 55, spent about 20 years as a county prosecutor, serving as an assistant head deputy in San Fernando and a supervisor of the Target Crimes Division. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed him to the judiciary eight years ago.

After the battery charge was filed against him, Richman was reassigned from the downtown courthouse to the Chatsworth courthouse, where he shares a courtroom with two other judges. On Thursday, Richman several times whispered to Blatt about questions the attorney should ask people testifying.

The trial is expected to conclude sometime next week.